Pool Robots causing damage to vinyl liners? Is this true?

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G

gsrel

0
Aug 29, 2017
83
Toronto, Canada
Has anyone experienced this? I've read that they can cause pinhole leaks and damage to internal liner covered steps.

My inlaws were going to give us this unit but now im starting to wonder if its worth it.

iRobot Verro 500

automatic-pool-cleaner-I-robot-1.jpg
 
Ive been using a Dolphin Nautalis robot on my liner pool for going on 5 years without any problems.

I think it's worth the effort to research the robots. Some of them are very powerful and have 3 or more scrubbers. Personally I wouldn't recommend one of those powerful ones. They were designed specifically for plaster pools. The lesser powerful ones, with a scrubber on front and back are much easier on the liner.

On several manufacturer websites but not all, they state whether or not the robot is liner friendly.

Hope this helps,
 
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A brand new robot with no broken parts will not put holes in a liner, period. If a robot causes pinholes in someone's liner then the liner was on its way out anyway. Or they let their kids jump on the thing while its running. All robots are designed to effectively be weightless under water, with the only downward pressure provided by the pump motor. I'm also not aware of any robot that is specifically not liner friendly.

The robot doesn't pump air into the water, it's just circulating the bottom third of the pool water up to the top.

As for that specific robot you're looking at, it's a private label reshelled Aquatron unit. I see them in the shop a fair bit. The most common failure is the pump motor going out after 3-5 years (just outside of the warranty I may add). That part costs about $450 new. I very rarely have people take that fix. If you're looking for long term reliability, buy a Dolphin.
 
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I have witnessed a liner lose ALL of it's coloring where the pool floor rounded up to meet the sidewalls and sporadically on the level floor as well.

The ONLY possible explanation was a suction side cleaner that ran often but not overly so.

Was this a manufacturing defect of the liner? I think it was but it pointed out that even a properly working cleaner involves some degree of abrasion.

I have never seen another instance but I believe a cleaner of any kind CAN provide some abrasion......but not likely enough to cause a hole.

An exception to this might be if your cleaner gets hung on an obstacle like steps. Gone undetected for awhile, I could see it wearing all the way through the liner at that point.
 
I personally know of one TFPer who experienced many hundreds of tiny pinholes in her 28mil liner and she used a robot. A big powerful one and I exchanged several PMs with her about it over a period of months.

The liner was less than a year old on a brand new pool.

The liner company and robot company turned it into a big finger pointing contest with the fingers pointing towards the pool owner as usual. At the end of the day the liner was replaced and a different robot was adopted and so far so good.

As usual, the root cause of these types of things are terribly difficult to determine, so using logical judgement based upon a wide range of reviews and experiences such as is available here on TFP, is about the best one can do in managing any risk (if there is one), when selecting a robot cleaner for their pool.
 
I personally know of one TFPer who experienced many hundreds of tiny pinholes in here 28mil liner and she used a robot. A big powerful one and I exchanged several PMs with her about it over a period of months.

The liner was less than a year old on a brand new pool.

The liner company and robot company turned it into a big finger pointing contest with the fingers pointing towards the pool owner (as usual). At the end of the day the liner was replaced and a different robot was adopted and so far so good.

As usual, the root cause of these types of things are terribly difficult to determine, so using logical judgement based upon a wide range of reviews and experiences such as is available here on TFP, is about the best one can do in managing any risk (if there is one), when selecting a robot cleaner for their pool.
 
I'm not the TFPer Dave's referring to but on my 15 year old liner (since changed) that had been very beaten up by low ph during prior foreclosure neglect, I did notice that the robot path eventually, as in the last season of the liner's life and 5 years post-foreclosure, rubbed the print off the liner.

Given the age and circumstance and the fact I'd gotten five more years from the liner after buying the foreclosure, I wasn't too worried. But with my new liner I have adjusted my cleaning schedule to a few runs a week with daily spot treating instead of daily operation - no signs of wear whatsoever two years in.

Liners age no matter what, and I wouldn't go without my robot even knowing it may exacerbate fading towards "end of life". So I'd take the robot and just be judicious in use in later years.
 
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Yes, definitely true. Been through multiple robots, last one started punching dozens of pin-side holes once liner reached about 5 years. Got robot manufacturer to pay for the leak repairs. Note that robots may be "weightless" under water, but still have mass, so when they slide down the wall and hit the bottom, it is still a 20 lbs moving object hitting a single spot in the liner. That's where all punctures happened. Would stick with wheeled suction-based robots (much lighter and slower).
 
thebombardier said:
A brand new robot with no broken parts will not put holes in a liner, period. If a robot causes pinholes in someone's liner then the liner was on its way out anyway. Or they let their kids jump on the thing while its running. All robots are designed to effectively be weightless under water, with the only downward pressure provided by the pump motor. I'm also not aware of any robot that is specifically not liner friendly.

The robot doesn't pump air into the water, it's just circulating the bottom third of the pool water up to the top.

As for that specific robot you're looking at, it's a private label reshelled Aquatron unit. I see them in the shop a fair bit. The most common failure is the pump motor going out after 3-5 years (just outside of the warranty I may add). That part costs about $450 new. I very rarely have people take that fix. If you're looking for long term reliability, buy a Dolphin.
Click to expand...


Sorry, but i disagree. I had a brand new liner and bought a Dolphin Z5 when they were big on here. Within three months I had 22 pinholes in my liner. After much back and forth with Maytronics they cut me a check and swapped my robot out for a different model.
 
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Chrissykr said:
Sorry, but i disagree. I had a brand new liner and bought a Dolphin Z5 when they were big on here. Within three months I had 22 pinholes in my liner. After much back and forth with Maytronics they cut me a check and swapped my robot out for a different model.
Click to expand...

Yeah I should probably restate my position. In my experience I've only seen robots with broken parts that have sharp plastic puncture a liner. However I have seen some pretty lazy deburring operations on parts for more recent cleaners from many different companies were I could see them putting holes in liners depending on pool shape, frequency if usage, and the age of the liners.
 
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